Should you put God to the test?

This question may or may not mean something to you.

• If you are a newer Christian, then it may seem like a strange sort of question. 

• If you have been working through the Bible for several years and really delving into your faith, then the question may actually seem quite familiar. 

Remember that Lent is a time for us to prepare our hearts for Easter, but it is also a time to meditate on the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness.

Today’s devotional reading is really an introduction to what you’ll read in Day Seven of this series of devotionals. Jesus echoed words from Exodus and Deuteronomy when He addressed
this very question in Matthew and Luke’s gospels.
Even the prophet Malachi used the term of testing with his community.

My hope is that you will be able to meditate on how you approach God, how you read His Word, and how you view his character.

I’m going to go directly to Scripture now, because that is just how my mind works. One of the amazing things about the Bible is that the books, written thousands of years apart, are still connected. 

• On Day Seven we’ll focus on Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:12.

• Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:12 refer back to Deuteronomy 6:16.

• Deuteronomy 6:16 refers back to Exodus 17.

Moses’ forty year journey with the Israelites through the desert was recorded in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. The sixth chapter of Deuteronomy follows the Ten Commandments—the Law given to the Hebrew people. Moses had just finished telling the people not to follow other gods and to truly take these commandments into their hearts. Then he addresses the question for today:

“Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah” (Deuteronomy 6:16 NIV).

So what happened at Massah?

Not long after the Israelites escaped from the Pharaoh of Egypt, they were overwhelmed by the true difficulty of the journey through the desert. They understood that they had to follow God’s guiding presence through the hard terrain, but when they reached a place called Rephidim, they began to argue with Moses because there was no water.

So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” (Exodus 17:2-3)

Can you imagine walking through the desert with your whole family and animals, and realizing that you had no water? While I would like to think that I would trust the God who just led me out of slavery, I might have started freaking out too. 

So how did God handle these people? 

God literally gave Moses the ability to squeeze water from a stone. Have you ever heard that phrase before? Well, it sounds pretty impossible to me, but God allowed Moses to do it with the staff that he used back in Egypt. 

Now you know what happened at Massah, but do you know what that word means?

Moses named this place Massah because that word means testing.

See, the Israelites did test God. They didn’t have faith that God was among them. Yet do you see how God responded to them? 

The Lord God saw their lack of faith and He showed that:

• God is Good

• God is Wise

• God is a Provider

• God is a Guide

• God is a Preserver

I could list more attributes, but you get the idea. He was good to the people He had chosen. God told Moses to have the elders watch as water came from the rock; He was wise enough to know that people often want to see the proof of His presence even though He prefers we walk in faith with Him. He provided exactly what they needed (not what they wanted) while he guided them through harsh lands. He preserved them just as a life preserver saves a weak swimmer in rough waters. 

Friends, do you find yourselves testing God through your words, thoughts, and actions? Do you question if He is truly among the people?

The Israelites who traversed the desert and wilderness for forty years could be compared to whining children in this moment of their history. The fact that God provided life-sustaining water rather than obliterating them shows me that He could see the big picture, He loved them, and He wanted to use them to show His glory.

This question of testing God is also found in Malachi—the last book in the Old Testament. 

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (Malachi 3:10 NIV).

As you can see, the context here is tithing, or giving back (financially) to God as a way to honor Him and acknowledge that He is the ultimate giver. This instance of testing is different from what happened at Massah. Some scholars even say that the words themselves are different in the instance of Deuteronomy and Malachi. Our English language just can’t convey all of the subtleties that other languages can. 

I wasn’t going to bring the Malachi verse into this devotional, but I felt like I had to. 

These two instances of testing God are very different, so try to look at them from the different contexts they are from.  

While the Israelites tested God because they had no faith, the prophet Malachi is calling people to test God so that their faith will be strengthened and God’s goodness will be put on display.

As with so many situations with God, it is our heart posture that truly determines the end result. If you approach God as a genie that will give you your three wishes, you may be sorely disappointed. But if you approach God as your Lord, and test His ways and Word, you may be honestly surprised and delighted.

When you want to know who God is, and honestly seek Him, my Lord will show Himself to you in amazing and powerful ways. Let’s mull over this idea of testing God for the next few days, and check our heart postures as well!